Randstad Canada HR Blog

IT teams today play a role as innovators and in many cases business drivers. Businesses today move too fast for the traditional model wherein a plan was made and then IT is brought in to see how it can be delivered - that's why it is so important for IT leaders to begin to grow the soft skills of their teams to help organizations get the results the need.

Project management

Being able to do something is great, having the skills to see it is done with accuracy and efficiency is incredibly important - but can you direct people to do the same. Project management is about following through on your promises, following up with your team and keeping everybody on track. IT teams have more projects, with tighter deadlines than ever - building the skills of your teams so they can take some of project management burden off your shoulders will improve your department.

Long tail thinking

Knowing what impacts will be made from your efforts downstream, farther up the chain of work can be a real benefit. Having foresight the foresight to know that if A occurs, then B, C, F will likely occur as well and planning those eventualities shows that you’re not only smart but you have the best interests of your department or the organization.

Presentation

Know your audience and get acquainted with PowerPoint, table making and the brand guidelines of where you are working. Knowing your audience is key, whether you are speaking with your manager, a colleague or may be the VP of the company you will be speaking a bit differently to each.

A VP wants to know top line knowledge, your manager about the assignments they’ve assigned you and your colleagues may be about the game. It is okay to have different types of conversations with different people.

Teamwork

We’ve all heard enough World Cup analogies, so here’s a cricket one. There couldn’t be a bowler without a wicket and a batsman. Working well with others sounds easy but it is a more complex. You need to know how long something will take for you to do, you need to know when to ask for help and when to make yourself available to help others. This take intuition, it is more than the idea of a group project, because every day when you are at work you are cumulatively working toward the corporate goal.

Leadership

Leadership is the backbone of good project managers. It is easier to get people to do what you need them to if they believe in you, if you inspire them and there is a positive connection of both energy and work ethic between you and those you are directing. Leadership doesn’t need to be a top-down thing - you can show leadership by being an example of work ethic, by being a social connector within your organization and by even knowing when to pick up the cheque.